Death of the Unicorn
by Helena Mira
Summary: The confrontation with the unicorn finally takes place. Cholmondeley finally gets his due, but how it happens and the resulting changes in others are unexpected.
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own these characters and make no profit from their use._

**Death of the Unicorn**

**Chapter 1**

**Prologue**

As Topher walked away from Princess Lotus Flower's house, he realized that he had really gotten himself into some really deep stuff this time. It wasn't unusual for him to end up in weird situations. He always felt this need to help other people. He didn't know why. His parents had raised all of them to be good Christians. But he was the only one who really put himself in tricky spots trying to help others in need.

Of course they went to church every Sunday and then Sunday school. But more than that, Mom and Dad had taught them that being a good Christian meant that you followed in Jesus' footsteps. You did good things for others and protected those who were weaker. And sometimes, that meant making sacrifices to help others.

Lately his Mom thought that he was making too many sacrifices and that one of these days he was going to end up in big trouble. But then Pastor Jason told him that he could never go wrong if he followed his best instincts. In fact, he told him that God would always protect him.

That was why he went out on his crazy rescue mission last month, but he couldn't explain that to his mother. It was like after he committed to saving the Everetts, he suddenly had everything that he needed to do it. And he never felt scared. In fact, he thought that everyone had made a big fuss over nothing when he brought them all back safely.

But this time around, things seemed to have gotten out of control. He knew that Trelawney and Francine were in trouble from this unicorn guy. It felt like out of nowhere he and Mike had met up with this other guy Liam, Trelawney's older cousin, who was determined to save them too. And as they talked out the situation, they were able to think their way through things, to a kind of rational explanation for what was happening. And then make rational decisions, sort of.

So much of what they had to figure out had to do with the premonitions that the Princess had made. By the time he had seen her latest performance he had gone from thinking that she was crazy to believing that she was a raving lunatic. That was the only word for it. If she hadn't hit so many things right with the deep trances before then he would have totally dismissed her. But for some reason, this time he couldn't.

He wished that he had been able to talk to Liam about the auras. He had heard about auras before and they had seemed interesting. And of course when he became curious about something, he went out to find out everything he could about it. It seemed like once Liam and the Princess started talking about them, he could see them too. Liam's was certainly red for anger. He had noticed that Mike's was green, the healer, but it was dim because he was also scared.

But the Princess had the weirdest aura. It was first grayish-brown, which meant that she was lying. And then when she went into her deep trance it turned a mustard color, kind of like sulphur. He had only the slightest knowledge of what the colors of the auras meant. He hadn't even heard of mustard yellow. He could only guess that it was evil, since sulphur tended to be associated with the devil. He could tell that Mike couldn't see it and that although it had caught Liam off guard, it did not scare him. But he was too interested to be scared. He wondered what color his own aura was.

Right before they had left, however, he had turn to take one last look at the Princess. What he saw was astounding. She was surrounded by deep black, billowing clouds, the color of anger and malice, pure evil. And there were bright red streaks, anger within and around it.

When they exited the house, he looked up and saw the same black, billowing clouds in the sky, repeatedly streaked with flashes of lightening that looked, oddly enough, red. He had a scientific mind and had never really gone in for all that metaphysical jazz. He suspected that before the night was over, he just might change his mind.

Once they got in the van, they all sat still for a moment, each processing the events of the past few minutes in his own way. Since everyone was silent, he flipped on the radio for some background noise. The station was still broadcasting alerts for the city. Some kind of a freak storm was just sitting over town dumping rain, blowing up dangerous winds, and continuously lighting up the sky with thunderbolts. Half the town had lost power from fallen trees and limbs, including all of Oak Street where the Everetts lived.

"Did you hear that?" he called back. "The Everetts' street is without power and phone. It's in one of the worst hit areas."

"Yes," said Liam. "It would be, especially if Cholmondeley is there. Yes, that all makes sense, but there isn't enough time to explain why. In the end it will make our job easier."

"Why is that?" asked Mike.

"Well, it's like this," explained Liam. "A storm that's keeping everyone inside makes it safer for them. And then we don't have to worry about any collateral damage, so to speak. If we can keep our own heads, then that will be a good thing because matters could get very confusing, very quickly. All around the storm is a good cover for what we're about."

"And what are we about?" asked Topher.

"Why we're out to find the unicorn of course," said Liam patiently.

"What will we do when we find him?" asked Mike with trepidation in his voice.

"That will be decided by how it all plays out," replied Liam. "Everything will depend on how Cholmondeley reacts and if we have him penned in, so to speak. If we get him in a position where he can't escape we'll have more options. All's I know is that we can't let him get away."

Topher silently agreed, but didn't know how they could accomplish that. However, now that he knew how to look for auras, he was hoping that he could use that skill when they met up with Cholmondeley, and perhaps Cousin John. If he could ascertain their emotions then perhaps he would be able to use that information somehow.

He just wished now that he knew what Liam meant when he said that the Princess had made one too many predictions. The information was obviously important to knowing what the situation all was really about, but he didn't want to get into anything else. He wanted to get moving before someone else got hurt.

Topher started up the van.

"Okay," he said. "Let's find this unicorn and be done with it."

**On Alert**

It had been a long night at the police station so far. Half the town was out of power and phone service, and they had lost contact with the worst hit areas. The news that was coming in from those people who did still have phone lines was not good. Unless there was someone who was hurt, there wasn't anything that they could tell them to do, other than to stay inside. It wasn't really safe for them to be out either. Fortunately, the local riffraff seemed to all agree. There had been no reports of any crimes.

Around ten o'clock, however, the chief decided that storm or not, they had to know what was going on out in the part of town that was out of communication with them. He had called in every officer that he could reach. Among them, was Officer Hadley. He was a good man and when the chief asked for volunteers to go out and check on the worst hit areas, he immediately volunteered.

Hadley knew the area of his own beat very well. It also happened to be in the very hardest hit area of town. Being a beat cop was hard work, but he had turned down promotions so that he could take care of the families who had come to rely on him. He was determined that he would get assigned to his own turf.

"Chief," he said. "I know those blocks like the back of my hand. Even if it's dark and rainy and there are trees down, I know my way around very well. I also know where the old folks are who might need help."

"That's sounds good to me, Hadley," replied the Chief. "But you're not going out alone. Anyone want to volunteer to ride along with him?"

"Hey, Hadley?" called out another officer. "Your beat includes Oak Street doesn't it?"

"Yeah!" he replied. "You want to come out with me?"

"You bet I do," he answered. "I have friends out there and I owe them big."

"Okay, Parsons," said the Chief. "You and Hadley are Team Alpha. Now don't forget to stay on your radio. We don't need any heroes tonight."

Hadley shook his head. Team Alpha. The guy thought that he was still an army colonel in the Korean War or something. Parsons approached him.

"Hey Hadley," he said. "I'm Parsons. You have the Everetts in your area, right?"

"Yep, got two Everett families in fact," he replied. "Are they your friends?"

"You bet they are," he said. "And I just got the strangest feeling that they need my help. What do you say?"

"I'll go with your strange feeling," he said. "We have to start somewhere. It might as well be Oak Street."

"Good, then let's go," replied Parsons.

"Hey man," he said. "What do you owe them for?"

"My son, Billy," he said. "If it wasn't for them, Carolyn and I wouldn't have adopted him almost a year ago. And I know that Mrs. Everett is due to have her baby any day now. I just want to be sure that nothing is wrong with her and the baby."

"I understand," he said. "I got to know them when her sister got lost last year. Poor kid, they both went through a rough time. That was before she was Mrs. Everett. I even helped the Professor look for his lost rooster one other night."

Parsons looked at him curiously.

"Don't even ask. Let's get going."

When they walked out of the station and to the car, Hadley realized that this was no ordinary storm. It had gotten even worse than when he had come in a few hours ago. He had never seen anything like the rain, wind, and lightening that was blazing all over. Visibility was poor, but luckily no one else was out on the roads. The best he could do was make his way slowly over to Oak Street. When they got there, a couple of huge tree limbs were blocking the road at the intersection before the Everetts' block.

They stopped and noticed a van parked near the same intersection. Hadley looked at it closely.

"Hmm," he said. "I wonder who that is. Nobody around here owns a van like that."

"You really do know your beat well," said Parsons. "Maybe it's some guy who got smart and decided not to drive any farther."

"Good thought," he said. "Let's go and look inside. Maybe someone needs a lift to a safer location."

The two men got out. They could barely stand up in the wind. They shined their lights in the windows.

"Nobody in there," said Parsons. "I wonder what's up?"

"Me too," agreed Hadley. "Let's walk onto the block. Wait a minute! I don't recognize that blue sedan either."

Once again, they went over and looked in the windows.

"No one in here either," commented Hadley. "But look on the front seat!"

"Rental agreement," replied Parsons. "So we know they're out-of-towners. Know of anyone who has visitors?"

"No," said Hadley thinking. "Not since this afternoon anyway."

"Now what kind of an idiot would drive into a storm like this?" asked Parsons. "Especially if he's from out of town. But he didn't get onto the street before the limbs came down that's blocking it. Too bad we don't know when they fell."

"I don't know," replied Hadley. "But now I'm getting the feeling that this is not good. I just don't like it."

"Yeah," answered Parsons. "I don't like it either. Either they went in to help someone in trouble or . . ."

"They went in to cause trouble," replied Hadley grimly. "Let's do a house to house search. But let me be the one who goes to the door. We wouldn't want to scare anyone."

"We may anyway," said Parsons. "It's late and we can't tell who's up and who's asleep with all the lights out."

"Somehow," said Hadley. "I don't think that anyone can sleep in this storm."

They knocked on the first six houses on the street, but no luck with finding the strangers. At least all the folks inside were safe. But it had been too stormy for anyone to have seen anything outside. The whole thing was starting to make Hadley very uncomfortable. He was determined not to leave the street until he had knocked on every door.

"Maybe we should go back to the car and radio in for updates," suggested Parsons. "We should try and dry off a little bit too."

They had just gotten to Fowler's house. They could see the limb that had taken out the wires. It had fallen from a tree between Everett's house and Fowler's. Hadley knew that Mr. Fowler was away but figured that if anyone could get through a storm it was Mrs. Fowler. And he also had the oddest feeling that they had gotten there too early, but too early for what?

**The Hunt**

Liam was glad that the two lads had found him. They were both sharp boys. He could tell from what he had discerned from their minds that although they were both a bit scared for themselves, more than anything they wanted to save Trelawney and help Francine. Mike was smart and sensitive, typical actor type. But Topher was a load of surprises. He had become aware while they were talking to Auntie that he was able to read auras. In fact, he had somehow figured it out by watching them.

The better he got to know him, the more he realized that despite being an outsider, he had some pretty good intuitive gifts of his own. The young man had a pretty clear turquoise aura. He was good at leading others and organizing them. And he was energetic. Like himself, he hated to sit still. But this young man was more than this. His character was sterling and he deeply cared about others.

His actions tonight were not only about Trelawney. This was a good young man who was determined to help all in need. If he didn't know better, he might have thought that _he _was Trelawney's angel. But he knew that that could not be. The aura was all wrong. If he were an angel, he would not have agreed so readily to looking for Cholmondeley. He would have known what he himself was up to.

After what seemed like forever, Topher finally got them over to the street where the Everetts lived. The first thing that they discovered was that it was blocked by tree limbs.

"Well," said Topher. "The only way that we are getting in there is on foot."

"That's good with me," replied Mike.

"A little rain never hurt me," shrugged Liam. "It's not like I'm made out of sugar you know."

"No," agreed Mike. "I certainly would never have guessed that."

They covered up as best as they could and left the van. They might not have bothered. Within a couple of minutes they were soaked. As they talked to each other, they found that all they could do was yell.

"From this end of the block," yelled Topher. "The first house that we will get to is Fowler's."

"Then let's go there first," yelled back Mike. "We can see if they are okay inside."

"Sounds like a good idea," hollered back Liam. "Then we can go over to the Professor's house."

Progress up the street was slow. In addition to what branches and limbs had already fallen from the trees, more were coming down. It was difficult to tell the difference between the crackle of lightening and the cracking of tree limbs before they had fallen. The only light that they had was a single flashlight. And it wasn't a very good one at that.

They got better light every time there was another crash of lightening. Looking at the houses, they were almost completely dark inside, although occasionally they caught a glimpse of a candle or flashlight through a window. When they finally reached the Fowlers house, there were no lights on anywhere.

"That's weird," said Mike. "Knowing Mrs. Fowler, you would think that she would have on as many flashlights and candles that she could find."

"Maybe they're not home?" asked Topher.

"No," replied Mike. "The car is in the driveway. It looks like a small tree is down behind it. No way they could have gotten out. This is real suspicious looking."

"And how," agreed Topher. "Let's go around the back."

"Man!" said Mike. "Will you look at that mess?"

A tree had taken out the fence between the two houses. They could see that both yards were full of leaves and branches. A quick look assured Liam that even though their cages were all undamaged. The animals were all scared to death by something. And it wasn't the storm. Unfortunately this was no time to start having a conversation with a guinea pig or a rooster. At least they all looked unhurt. Phoebe loved her little creatures and he was glad for her that they were safe. Topher looked over at the Everetts.

"Liam!" he called out. "That's your cousin's house over there. It really looks like they're blockaded in. There's one huge branch leaning against the roof and another one blocking the back door."

"Yes, lad, it is," replied Liam. "But look, there's one of the rooms on the second floor all lit up. I wonder if that's where Phoebe is having the baby?"

"The bedrooms are all on the second floor," replied Topher. "That's what Sarah said. So that would make sense."

"Hey!" said Mike. "Did you look out in the front yard? A huge tree limb pulled down all the lines between the two houses. It looks like the front door of this house is pretty much blocked in too."

"That's probably a good thing as well," said Liam. "It would make it harder for Johnny and Cholmondeley to get in."

"Did you hear that?" asked Mike.

"I can't hear nothing in this storm," answered Liam, but he was aware of a presence. Despite the fact that the air was warm and muggy like the tropics, he felt a cold chill run through him. Whatever was out there, it was evil.

"I don't know," said Topher nervously. "But I have a feeling that we may have some company out there."

**Back on Duty**

Hadley realized once they had returned to the car that it was a good thing that Parsons had suggested that they take a rest. There was no way that they could dry off, but at least they could recuperate from the stress of moving out there in the storm. They were also able to call into the base station to report the mess on Oak Street, including the downed lines.

"Good work, men!" said the chief. "Keep up your house to house search. Make sure that everyone out there is safe."

"You got it, chief," said Parsons.

"Oh," said the chief. "Be on the lookout for two teenage boys who have gone missing in the storm, Michael Lenihan and Christopher Tucker. Their parents have called them in missing. They haven't shown up in anyone else's area yet."

"Roger that," said Parsons.

"What the hell?" Hadley asked.

"Sounds like our friend Topher is out playing hero again," said Parsons. "And this time he's brought along Mike for the ride."

"And I don't think that it's a coincidence that they haven't shown up anywhere else yet," added Hadley.

"Bet you anything that those two young idiots are down at Everetts," replied Parsons.

"Well," said Hadley. "As soon as we catch our breath, we should really get out there again and make sure."

Parsons nodded. In a few minutes he got a funny look on his face.

"I think that we should go out again now," he said. "I have a feeling that something is about to go down."

"Me too," agreed Hadley. "And whatever it is, it's gonna be big."

The officers looked at one another again and stepped out. Hadley wanted to get back to Fowler's as fast as he could. He somehow knew that now was the time. It still took a while for them to walk through the mess that was continuing to build up in the street and on the sidewalks. As they arrived at Fowlers, there wasn't time to knock on the door. They heard a loud noise in the backyard. Over the roar of the storm, it sounded like an explosion.

**Confrontation**

Liam could feel in his bones that it was finally about to happen. He could sense him nearby, even if he couldn't see him. The storm was interfering with most of his perceptions and sensibilities now, but his hatred for the man that he was chasing ran too deeply to be knocked off his inner radar.

The bloody unicorn was hiding out there somewhere. He could feel his anger. Now that they were aware that Mrs. Fowler and Francine were probably not home. There was no doubt in his mind that Trelawney had made sure that they were safe from them.

The heavy limbs and wires that had blocked off the house were no doubt frustrating the hell out of old Cholmondeley. He knew that someone up there was looking after those inside. He took a glance up at the glowing yellow light in the bedroom and saw the silver stars within it. This was no ordinary light. It indicated that a new life was coming into the world, a child of light. Trelawney had won. And she had done it by herself. She had made sure that her sister's little baby had made it into to the world safely.

Auntie's last premonition had continued one word too long. "Unless." But in that flicker of a moment between when she spoke the word and Mike had asked "unless what?" he had discerned it from her mind. There was one way to save the innocent third party and the two sisters. The unicorn must be destroyed. Fortunately, she was so dull that he doubted that she knew what that meant. The little one had done her part. Now he must do his.

Topher was scanning the yard with his flashlight. Weak as it was, it was able to pick up movement in a clump of leaves on the large branch that had taken out the fence. He was glad that he knew Cholmondeley so well. He always equivocated, never could make up his mind. So now he was caught between the two houses.

"Get behind me!" he hissed to Topher and Mike. "Gimme the flashlight. You've done your bit. Listen to me and we'll bring you both back home safe to your mothers."

The two young men obeyed him right away and moved back immediately behind the doorsill. Good, thought Liam. If I don't have to worry about them, I can focus on the enemy. However, it only occurred to him now that he didn't have any kind of a weapon. He could only hope that Cholmondeley didn't either. If he could get him into a physical fight, then he could beat him barehanded.

"Come out you bloody fool!" he called out. "You and me have some business to take care of."

And bloody fool that he was, Cholmondeley stepped into his light and shone on him a light of his own. Liam's heart sank as he saw the glint of silver reflecting off the gun. But he also saw the aura. This was not the aura of the dithering idiot that he had traipsed all over Africa and Asia with. This was an aura blacker than the night itself, with the same red streaks as the sky. And it looked exactly like Aunt Henrietta's aura did before they had left her. It was obvious. The same evil that was using her was using him as well.

But now he was the one who was caught. It was himself or the other man. He knew that if he lost, the Cholmondeley and whatever evil possessed him would continue to wreak havoc on the lives of those he loved. He might even try to get into the house and do something to those upstairs. He couldn't let that happen. But he now had a decision to make. Should he call upon the good or the evil forces to help him through?

He closed his eyes and thought back to the words of Sylvia on the plane. Two wrongs don't make a right. Two wrongs only breed more wrong. Auntie's premonition had told him what must be done, but it didn't tell him it how it could be done. The force that had sent it was probably hoping that he would pick the obvious choice, kill the bastard. With all his heart, he wanted revenge for what the bastard had done to Trelawney. He wanted to put a stop to her persecution once and for all.

And yet, deep down in his very soul, he knew that there was only one way to conquer the evil that stalked his cousins. And that was with the power of goodness. If he retaliated to Cholmondeley in kind, the storm would grab hold of his own wickedness and strengthen itself. And who knew where that would all end?

The results could be disastrous for all. A more powerful storm could create more destruction. If Cholmondeley got away, who knew what he would do to Trelawney, Phoebe, and the baby? Surely those up in the house had no weapons. So he made his choice. For the first time in a long time he prayed.

He prayed to God to save him so that he could save his cousins. He prayed that God might help to dissipate his own anger. He knew that he couldn't do it alone. It was the only way. He thought of little Trelawney. What had Syl said? If you damn your soul forever on her account, you will break her heart. The child was pure good. She was a child of light.

And there was Trelawney, only yards away up in the house. He knew that her psychic connections were powerful. Were they powerful enough? Oh child of light, he prayed, lead me toward the goodness you inspire in others. His answer came into his heart immediately. Somewhere, her spirit was reaching out to his. She was calling him toward the light.

When he opened his eyes, he could see Cholmondeley there. The unicorn was even closer than before. In fact he, and his gun, were practically in his face.

"I have no weapon, see?" he said, showing him that his hands were empty except for the flashlight. "Let's talk this out man. It wasn't you that did this. It was a canker in your soul, some evil that got hold of you. It's still there, but you don't have to do this. Let it go, man. Let it go. We'll help you if we can. You know the little one. She'll forgive you if she understands. In fact she'll help the rest of us forgive you too."

But whatever had grabbed hold of him would not let go. Dithering and weak fool that he was, he was not strong enough to fight it. No wonder he had been chosen. Liam was facing the barrel of the gun but he refused to back down. If he did, then the worst could happen to the girls. He was neither a coward nor a killer. He had made his choice. And then from behind him he heard a voice.

"There is only one way," called out Topher bravely. "God's way. Drop the weapon and walk toward the light."

At any other time, he would have thought that the lad was a bloody fool, but not tonight. Something told him that in her own effort to save him, Trelawney had called out to him as well. Topher, Christopher, Christ-bearer. This young man was offering Christ to both of them. He immediately accepted. Topher moved forward, clearly unafraid, and took his place next to him. He felt the strength of the young man's goodness and it gave him hope.

And as he stood beside him, Topher's aura glowed a bright yellow-orange. Liam could see that he was a child of light also. God bless little Trelawney, he thought. She knew her gallant knights well. They were fearless and they were good. Even the unicorn must see it. But if he saw it, he didn't acknowledge it. He was too angry. The anger was consuming him. It was blinding him. Instead he cocked the gun. Liam closed his eyes as the shot rang out through the night.

Knowing that he wasn't harmed, he looked to the ground and opened his eyes, expecting to find Topher there. But instead it was the unicorn. It was over. He looked up and into the eyes of the young man, his savior and then looked down as he held out his hands. They were empty. It was not Topher who had fired the shot. A child of light would never take another life anyway.

"Liam."

He looked up again and saw Johnny walking towards him. He looked down at Cholmondeley in horror.

"What have you done, man?" he asked.

"Nothing," said Liam.

Mike came up from behind them on the other side and looked down.

"Oh my God!" he said. "It's the unicorn."

"Shut up about that, I tell you!" hissed Liam. "Don't go talking about no unicorns, unless you're directly asked. Understand?"

Topher and Mike nodded, and then they heard a voice front the front yard.

**The Arrival on the Scene **

When Hadley and Parsons made their way around to the other side of the house, they saw four men standing there, looking down over another lying on the ground. They all seemed, to one degree or another, stunned by what had just taken place.

"Nobody move!" shouted Parsons. "Everyone stay right there in your places and lift up your hands."

Hadley watched as they all slowly obeyed. Then he scanned their faces with his flashlight.

"Topher! Mike!" he yelled. "What the hell are you doing out here? You both should know better than to be out in a storm like this! We have an APB out on you. You've scared your families half to death."

The two boys looked back at him nervously, but didn't move. Hadley didn't recognize the other two men. But he looked down and saw that the fifth man was lying in a pool of blood. No doubt about it, he was mortally wounded. Nobody could lose that much blood and still live.

"I don't suppose that any of you fellows know how this happened?" he asked, looking up at them.

"Sir, none of us is even armed," said the older man with a British accent. "You can check us out. The lads and I are clean. Never even owned a gun myself."

"What about him?" asked Parsons, indicating the fourth man, who was opposite the other three.

"I don't have a gun!" he said immediately. "But he did."

Hadley looked down and saw the gun in the fifth man's hand.

"Okay," he said. "So if no one had a gun except the dead man, who shot him?"

"I did," called out a tall, grey-haired man coming out of the bushes from the side of the house. "This guy (pointing to the dead man) was holding the gun on these two (Topher and the British man) and was about to fire at point blank range. I shot my weapon to protect them. I didn't intend to wound him fatally, but with the storm and the speed that everything happened my aim was off. Here's my gun. I can assure you the bullet will match."

"And who are you?" asked Parsons. Now another man had come from behind him.

"We're security guards that were hired by a Mr. Bob Everett to guard his brother's house," he explained. "The names are Rick Jones and Larry Kimble. We were told to let no one in. These two (pointing to the man down and the single man standing) have been casing the place for the past hour. Then we heard these three come in."

"We decided to watch and see what would happen," the other man explained further. "These two (pointing to Topher and the British man) tried to reason with him. Then I saw him point the gun. Larry over here took him out before he could hurt the others."

The story seemed plausible to Hadley. Of course in the heavy wind and rain, at that point he would have listened to any explanation and thought that it was plausible. But now they had six men to bring into the station and one car. Plus they had the body to deal with.

"Okay you six," he said. "Let's walk out to main road and call it in. Then you will all have to come down to the station so that we can sort this out."

Since everyone was amenable, after he read him his rights, he only put cuffs on the shooter. Until it could be established otherwise, they would have to treat this as a homicide case. He was glad that the boys seemed to be bystanders rather than participants. But he still wouldn't want to be them. If they didn't have a really good explanation for why they were out there, Janet and Lois were going to kill them.

When they got back to the car, they called for back up so that they could get everyone to the station and a truck from the morgue to deal with the body. The storm was still roaring away, although it did seem to be easing off a little. It was going to be a long night for everyone.

_To be continued . . ._


	2. Chapter 2

**At the Station: What the Police Learned (And What They Didn't)**

Officers Hadley and Parsons had a long night ahead of them when they got back to the station from the scene of the crime outside the Everetts' backyard. What a crazy mess! Parsons thought. Who would ever have thought that that great family seemed to be mixed up in something like this? Yet they _must _be mixed up somehow or why would Hal's brother have hired security guards? They had five witnesses and one suspect to interview. The interviewer was going to be another officer who was a homicide detective.

He and Hadley would be there to listen in so that he could ask them questions after each witness left. They would also have the chance to ask questions of their own if they thought that he had missed something. Presently, the six men were sitting in the waiting area, together. There was another officer present to make sure that they didn't speak to one another. None of them looked like they wanted to talk to each other anyway. Parsons watched them while they all waited for the lieutenant to show up to get the ball rolling.

Parsons felt bad for the two teenagers. They looked stunned by what had happened. It is never an easy thing to witness a shooting. As any veteran of the streets can tell you, it's an image you never forget. This one was pretty bad too. Not necessarily messy, but the guy bled out. It's hard to imagine that the human body contains that much blood. He made a mental note to tell their parents to keep an eye on them. There might be some bad dreams and other psychiatric repercussions later.

They also obviously had no idea of what was really going on, even now. It was much more serious than either of them had imagined. Whatever protecting or rescuing they had done in the past of Trelawney, this situation was far more intense and dangerous that they had previously encountered. It would be very interesting to compare their understanding of the events with that of the other men.

Knowing Topher's history with the Everetts he suspected that he had thought they were simply going out to protect Mrs. Everett and her sister. Mike was another really good kid who no doubt had pure motives as well. On the way back, while the two were sitting anxiously in the back of the car with Liam Figalilly, he gave them all an important piece of advice.

"When you are answering the questions, be sure to only answer what you are asked. If the questioner wants more information, he'll let you know. And remember, you are not suspects," he advised them. "If you tell the truth, everything will work out fine."

They had all nodded. Parsons got the feeling that the boys were more worried about the questions their parents would ask when they got home than anything the police might want to know. They both knew that they had done nothing wrong. Figalilly was unconcerned. He seemed to be a real cool character. When they got to the station, they called up both families to tell them that they had found the boys and they were safe. Avoiding the details, they said that they would stay at the station until the storm passed.

Mike and Topher were allowed to dry off somewhat before they had to sit in the waiting area of the station. They offered them prison jumpsuits to wear, which were the only dry clothes they had to offer them. They declined, with Topher commenting that his mother would totally freak out if she saw him dressed up like that.

Topher was relatively calm, but Mike looked like he was about to lose his lunch. After what he had seen, Parsons was surprised that he hadn't by now. The one British man, Liam Figalilly who had been threatened by the deceased and nearly shot, sat with them, looking fairly unconcerned.

The other British guy, John Trelawney, who was the companion of the deceased, sat with them looking nervous. Occasionally he glanced over at the other Englishman. They were an interesting pair to watch. Every once in a while when Trelawney looked at Figalilly and he would shake his head or nod. If Parsons didn't know any better, he would have thought that they were having a conversation. It was most peculiar.

One of the security guards, Rick Jones, also sat with them and then the other one, the shooter Bill Kimble, was brought in, his hands still in cuffs. He had been booked and read his rights. But since he was being cooperative, they decided not to put him in a jail cell until after questioning. Guilty or not, he would have to be arraigned and bail set. Night court was certainly not in session tonight. He had used his one phone call to call the security company. They would be sending a lawyer in the morning.

The cops then would take them one by one into a conference room. They would be interviewed separately so that their stories wouldn't be influenced by one another. None of them had spoken yet, except for the security guard who claimed to be the shooter at the scene. He once again declined his right to an attorney when he gave his statement. Parsons had to wonder if he had been in this kind of mess before.

They greeted the man doing the interviewing who was a homicide detective, named Lt. Davis. Everyone at the station knew Davis. He had been around forever and was at the same time both tough and fair. They decided to bring Topher in first. Of the two boys, he was the "less dazed."

"It's time to hear this story out," said Davis, in a serious voice. "Now young man, normally we would have taken your statement in the field but with the weather like it is right now, we'll do it here. Let's be clear about this. You are here as a witness. You are not in any trouble."

Topher nodded and said, "Yes, sir."

"What is your full name?" he began.

"Christopher Allen Tucker," he replied. "But everyone calls me Topher."

"Okay, Topher, why were you at the scene of the crime?" asked Davis.

"We were there because we were afraid that something bad might happen to Mrs. Everett and Trelawney Figalilly," he replied.

"Why did you think that?"

"Well," he said. "They've both been afraid of some guy who might hurt them for the past year now. I've been kind of looking out for them ever since."

"How did you learn of their fears?"

"Last summer," he explained. "When we were working on the church service project together, Mrs. Everett was real nervous that if that reporter, Harvey Sloan, put her sister Trelawney on TV that this guy might come after her. So I helped the girl out of a few tough spots where he might run into her."

"Why were they afraid of him?" asked Davis.

"Harvey Sloan?" asked Topher.

"No, the man that you referred to as 'this guy,'" he quickly responded. "Did you ever learn his name?"

"Yeah, last night," he answered. "It was Chumley Something. It was a funny name."

"Do you who he was?" asked Davis.

"Mrs. Everett and Trelawney never told us," said Topher. "But Liam did, he said that he was Mrs. Everett's ex-fiancé."

"So to go back to the original question, why were they afraid of him?" he asked.

"I don't know, they never told me," he replied.

"Why did you think that Chumley Something was back in town?"

"Butch, Mrs. Everett's stepson, told Mike and his family that since her cousin Liam was in town, it meant that he wasn't watching him anymore," he answered. "Mike called me."

"Do you know why Liam Figalilly was watching him?" asked Davis.

"He wanted to make sure that he stayed away from Mrs. Everett and Trelawney," he said.

"How did you decide to meet up with Figalilly?"

"Mike and I talked it through and we decided that we could help each other," replied Topher.

"To find Chumley Something?" asked Davis.

"Yes, sir."

"What were you going to do when you found him?"

"I dunno," answered Topher. "I guess we were going to make sure that he stayed away from Mrs. Everett and Trelawney."

"Why did you go to Everetts?" asked Davis.

"We kind of decided that that was where he would probably show up," said Topher.

Davis sat there thinking for a moment. Parsons could see that he believed him. Topher was a very honest kid and everyone in town knew that he was always looking for ways to help others. He also had a tendency to "leap before he looked." It made sense that he hadn't fully thought things through before he acted.

"If you were guarding the Everetts, so to speak," asked Davis. "What were you doing in Fowler's backyard?"

"We couldn't get into the Everetts' backyard. There were too many tree branches down. And the power lines were down in front of the house. It was too dangerous to go there."

Davis looked over at them.

"That's true," replied Hadley. "The lines are down in the front of the house. Both yards are a mess. Right now, the only way to get to Everett's yard is through Fowler's."

Davis nodded.

"When did you run into Chumley Something and his companion?" asked Davis.

"We ran into Chumley when he came out of a bunch of branches of the big limbs that were down. The ones that knocked down the fence," he said. "But we didn't see the other guy until after the shooting."

"Okay," he said. "When you realized that the deceased was there with you, what did you do?"

"Liam told Mike and me to stand behind him so that we wouldn't get hurt."

"Okay, what happened next?"

"Well, Liam stood very still," said Topher. "Chumley came toward him and I could see that he had a gun. Then Liam told him that he didn't have a weapon and he should give himself up. He was telling him to come back to God."

Davis looked at Hadley and Parsons but they just shrugged.

"What happened next?"

"I came out and told him the same thing," replied Topher.

"To come back to God?"

"Yes sir," said Topher. "Then he held up the gun like he was gonna shoot us, but he couldn't."

"Why not?"

"Someone else shot him first."

"Did you see who it was?" asked Davis.

"No, sir," replied Topher.

"Did you ever learn who shot him?"

"I only knew who shot him after the cops came in and starting asking questions," he said. "Then the guy came out of the bushes."

"Okay," said Davis. "Hadley and Parsons, do you have any questions for this young man?"

"No," they both replied.

"Okay, Topher," he said. "You may go back out into the waiting room. You may not speak to anyone out there. You will have to stay until we are done questioning everyone in case we have more questions for you."

"Yes, sir," said Topher politely and left.

Davis turned to them. "Does his story agree with what you saw at the scene?"

"Yes," said Hadley. "When we got there, Topher was standing next to Figalilly."

"About the name of the deceased," commented Davis. "Did he have any identification on him?"

"Yes, a British passport," replied Parsons. "The first and last names were very long and looked like Chol-mon-de-ley Feather-stone-haugh. (Pronouncing them syllable by syllable). But I guess you pronounce the first name Chumley."

"Okay, then let's call Mike in next," he said. "If he tells the same story, I think that the boys will be done. However the DA might have to use them as witnesses in court. Call in Mike."

Parsons got up and called in Mike. He seemed to have collected himself while Topher had given his statement. Davis repeated his same speech that he had given to Topher about how he was a witness and not a suspect.

"What is your full name?" he asked.

"Michael Joseph Lenihan, Jr." he replied politely. "I go by Mike."

"So young man," he said. "What were you doing at the scene of the crime?"

"Topher and I went to help Liam protect Mrs. Everett and Trelawney," he said.

"Who or what were you protecting her from?" asked Davis.

"The big jerk," replied Mike. Davis gave him a look that implied that he wanted him to explain further.

"Well," he continued. "My Mom, my little brother, and I picked up Butch Everett, you know, her son, to bring him to my house because Mrs. Everett was in labor. He told us that Cousin Liam was in town to protect Trelawney from the big jerk."

"And who, may I ask, is the big jerk?" asked Davis.

"He's Mrs. Everett's ex-fiancé," explained Mike. "He was mad because Trelawney busted up the engagement. Mrs. Everett has always been afraid that he would come back and hurt Trelawney."

"Did you ever learn the, um, big jerk's name?"

"Yeah, Liam told us," he said. "It was Chumley, uh, I never really caught the last name. It was kind of weird."

"What did Mr. Figalilly have to do with the busted engagement?" asked Davis. "As far as you know."

"Liam has been watching him for the past year, to keep them safe," replied Mike. "He came here because he had lost track of him and wanted to make sure that the girls were okay."

"How do you know this?" asked Davis.

"Butch told us."

"Okay, so what did you do after Butch told you?"

"I called up Topher and told him about it," he replied.

"Why did you call up Topher?" he asked.

"Well," he said. "We've both sort of been looking out for Trelawney since last summer. You know, kind of like big brothers."

"Okay," said Davis. "Why did you look for Mr. Figalilly?"

"We wanted to help him," answered Mike.

"If you wanted to keep Mrs. Everett and her sister safe, what were you doing in Fowler's backyard?" asked Davis.

From that point, the questions were almost identical to what he had asked Topher. And the answers were the same. When he was done, Davis dismissed him with the same instructions as he had given Topher.

"What do you think?" he asked turning to Hadley and him.

"I think that they are telling the same story," said Parsons. "The only real difference was that Mike called the victim, the big jerk and knew more about the broken engagement. But I think that that was because that's because of what Butch told him."

"I would agree with that," said Hadley. "I think that both of these boys have a very good relationship with Phoebe Everett and Trelawney Figalilly and they were trying to protect them. They just didn't know what they were getting into." "

Okay, so who is next," Davis asked. "Liam Figalilly or John Trelawney?"

"I think Figalilly," said Parsons. "Since we have the two boys' statements it makes sense to go with his. He was with them tonight."

"Sounds good to me," replied Davis. "Bring in Figalilly."

Liam Figalilly calmly entered. Like the boys, he knew that he had done nothing wrong. In fact, he had nearly been the victim of a murder. He was probably more relaxed because he didn't have any parents to face when he got home. After the suspect/witness speech, Davis began to ask questions.

"What is your full name?" he asked.

"William David Figalilly," he said.

"So how did you come to be at the scene of the crime?" asked Davis.

"I was there with the two lads because we were worried about Phoebe and Trelawney Rose and we wanted to make sure that they were all right," he replied.

"Please tell me the names of the two lads?"

"Mike and Topher," he replied.

"How did you meet the 'two lads,' as you call them?"

"They found me at Mr. Robert Everett's house, where I was staying," he said. "He's the Professor's Dad, you know. I was worried about the girls and they were worried about the girls. So we decided to team up, so to speak."

"Okay," he said with a sigh. "Please identify the girls by name for me."

"Sorry, sir," he said politely. "They are Phoebe Figalilly, uh, Everett and Trelawney Rose Figalilly."

"Why were you worried about them?"

"Well," he said. "They're my cousins, you see. And I wanted to make sure that nobody was out to hurt them or nothing."

"Why would somebody want to hurt them?"

"The man who was shot was named Cholmondeley Featherstonehaugh," he replied (pronouncing it as Chumley Fenshew). "Now he was Mrs. Everett's former fiancé. I have been traveling with him for the past year. I was afraid that he might have some bitterness over the broken engagement, so I wanted to keep an eye on him."

"Why did you come here then?"

"Well, Cholmondeley gave me the slip in Australia when old Johnny shows up," he explained. "So I figured the he would come here. And I figured right."

"Who is 'old Johnny'?" he asked with another sigh.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "That's Cholmondeley's cousin, John Trelawney."

"Thank you. Yes, you figured right," commented Davis. "Now if you were protecting your cousins, why were you in the Fowler's yard?"

"We couldn't get into the Professor's yard," he replied.

Once again, Davis reviewed the details of the shooting and Figalilly's account agreed with the boys', only told from his point of view.

"When I heard that gun cock," he said. "I could have sworn that I would be singing with the angels next, you know, meeting St. Peter at the pearly gates. But when I heard the shot, I knew I wasn't hit, so I looked for Topher."

"Why did you look for him?"

"I figured that he got it instead of me," he said. "But it was Cholmondeley that was lying there."

"And what happened next?"

"The police came in and started asking questions," he said. "Then the gentleman stepped out from the bushes and said that he'd done it."

"Okay," said Davis. "What happened next?"

"Well," said Figalilly. "The cops said that they're going to take us into the station here to take our statements. It being raining and all out there."

"Officers?" asked Davis looking at them.

Hadley and Parsons shook their heads. They had nothing else to ask.

"Thank you," he replied. "You may now sit outside, but you may not talk to anyone. We may want to recall you to answer more questions."

After Figalilly left, the three policemen all looked at each other.

"They are all telling the same story," commented Davis. "The other details really don't matter. They all have said that the Fenshaw pulled a gun, threatened them, and then was shot by the security guard. At least we know how to pronounce his last name now."

"I wonder what John Trelawney will have to say," said Hadley. "I guess he's the only one who may know what the motive was for the shooting."

"It does seem as though shooting someone because your engagement was broken by his cousin is a little drastic," added Parsons. "I still don't see the motive."

"Well," said Davis. "Let's call 'old Johnny' in and see what he has to say for himself."

When Trelawney entered, Parsons could see that he was nervous. He wasn't really sure of why, since he had nothing to do with the shooting other than being there with the victim.

"What is your full name?"

"John Andrew Trelawney, sir" he replied.

"So why were you at the scene of the crime tonight?" asked Davis.

"I was there with Cholmondeley," he answered. "I came along because he was going."

"Okay," said Davis. "Do you know why he wanted to go there?"

"Well," said John, who then began to spill out random thoughts. "That was my fault really that we were here at all. Cholmondeley's my cousin, see, and I was missing him. So you see, I went out to Tasmania, you know, in Australia to meet up with them, him and Liam that is, and by mistake I let it slip that Phoebe was about to have a baby. You know, with her new husband. That made Cholmondeley very unhappy."

"Keep going," said the officer.

"You see," said John. "Phoebe and Cholmondeley had had an understanding for a very long time. They were betrothed when she was born. That's the way we do things back home, especially if you're the oldest in your family and all that. But after her parents died, well, the Professor was there to comfort her. He even let her little sister live with the family so that she could stay there with his family, and the girls wouldn't be separated. She was the nanny then, you know."

"Yes," said Officer Hadley. "I can vouch for that. I helped find the little girl when she got lost last year."

Davis gave him a look that told him to keep his mouth shut from now on.

"Let's get back to your story," said Davis. "Officers, please do not interrupt."

Parsons now figured out that in his nervousness, this guy was just talking away. Davis seemed only too happy to let him run his mouth. He wondered what he would say next.

"Well, you know how these things turn out," continued John. "She goes and falls in love with the one who was there when she needed him. Now Trelawney Rose did give her a little bit of help breaking off the engagement. Then Cholmondeley went off on his own way. However, he was still a bit disgruntled, shall we say. A man has his pride you know."

"Okay," said Davis. "So Fenshaw is first of all upset about the broken engagement. Then he was upset because his ex-fiancée was pregnant with another man's child. Please continue."

"Well," said John. "After I told him about the baby, I realized it was a mistake. When he said that he was going to America to take care of it, I decided to come along with them. So we gave Liam here the slip and came here."

"Did you know what he meant by 'take care of it'?" asked Davis.

"Not exactly," he answered. "But I knew that it wasn't good. I thought that if I stuck by him I could talk him out of whatever he was going to do. And then I could warn Phoebe and the little one."

"The little one?"

"Yeah," he said. "That's kind of what the family calls Trelawney Rose, sort of a pet name, you know?"

Davis looked at the two officers. But all they could do was shrug.

"So then," he finally asked. "How did you end up in the Fowler's backyard?"

"Well, Cholmondeley knew where the Professor lived," he said. "He wanted to go over and talk to them, so he said. I tried to talk him out of it, because of the weather and all that. But he was just too angry."

"What exactly was he angry about?" asked Davis.

John looked very unhappy. This was not a question that he really wanted to answer.

"Well, sir," he hedged. "This is really family business, kind of private you know."

"And this is a criminal investigation," he replied sternly. "Answer my question!"

"He was mad because Phoebe broke off the engagement because she fell in love with someone else," he said meekly, but quickly. "He was mad at Trelawney Rose because she interfered. She encouraged Phoebe to fall in love with the Professor. She also encouraged her to break the betrothal by telling her that her parents would have wanted her to marry the one that she truly loved, and it wasn't Cholmondeley. Then he was mad because Phoebe was having the baby that should have been his."

"What did that have to do with Figalilly?" he asked brusquely.

"Well, you see, Liam had been pretending to be his friend and then, when I come, Cholmomdeley discovers that he's just making sure that he stays away from the girls," he said. "I told him that was what Liam was up to and he felt betrayed. Then he seemed to have it in for all the Figalillys."

"And it didn't occur to you to call the police instead of trying to handle this yourself?" he asked. "Considering that he had a gun?"

"I swear that I did not know that he had a gun until he pulled it out," said John. "I love my cousins and would never want to see any harm come to them."

"Wait a minute," said the officer. "Mrs. Everett and her sister are your cousins too?"

"Yes," said John. "On their mother's side."

"And Mr. Figalilly is their cousin too?"

"On their father's side," explained John. "And on their mother's side. That's how the four of us are cousins."

"So let me get this straight," said Davis, looking baffled. "Who is related to who and how?"

"Phoebe, Trelawney Rose, and Liam are what you might call double cousins," he explained. "Their Mums were sisters and their Dads were brothers. And my Dad is the brother of their two Mums."

By now the police officer looked totally baffled. "But I thought that you said that Fenshaw was your cousin."

"Yes sir," he replied. "On my Mum's side."

"This is crazy," he said. "And Mrs. Everett was formerly engaged to him?"

"Well he's not her cousin," said John. "We do keep the bloodlines straight, you know."

"Bloodlines straight," muttered Davis. "No wonder these people are shooting at each other."

"Now officer," said John, finally showing a little spirit. "It was only Cholmondeley who did any shooting, or wanted to you might say. The rest of us were all out there to be peaceable. We knew that our Phoebe was very close to giving birth in the house and didn't need the likes of Cholmondeley Featherstonehaugh showing up to cause to trouble. And if he had a gun, then he was obviously going to cause trouble."

"In the house?" asked Davis, surprised. "She was going to give birth in the house?"

"Well, of course," said John. "Where else is a woman supposed to have a baby?"

"In a hospital."

Now it was John's turn to look confused.

"Not where we come from," he said.

"So then, young man," said Davis. "Let's try and finish this up. What were you doing in the yard?"

"We went out there because Cholmondeley wanted to talk to Phoebe," he said. "Like I said, we knew that she was in close having the baby. But we couldn't get near the doors, too many branches and all that. That made Cholmondeley really mad. We were trying to figure things out when these three came into the yard."

"Did they threaten him?" asked the officer.

"No," said John. "They said that they just wanted to talk. Or rather Liam did. He told the lads to stay out of the way. Family business and all that, you know. But Cholmondeley didn't want to talk. In fact, he never said a word. Even when the kid Topher tried to make peace, you know, walk towards the light and that. And all Liam wanted to do was talk it out. It was Cholmondeley who didn't want to talk. So he didn't."

"True enough, it seems," said Davis.

Parsons noticed that John's testimony seemed to have worn Davis down somewhat. Butch had told his son Billy that his Mom had a lot of family but he never mentioned all the various relationships, probably because he couldn't figure them out himself. Fortunately, the family relations had nothing to do with the actual shooting.

Davis decided to let him go for now. He could always call him back in later. It was getting late and he still had to talk to the security guards. After John left he turned to them once again.

"What a story!" he said with a sigh. "Cousins, sisters, broken engagements, betrothals at birth, birth at home, walk towards the light. What a crazy culture! I'm glad that I live in America where things are normal.

"I really hope that the press doesn't get a hold of this whole thing," said Hadley. "They'll have a field day with it. Maybe we should try and get that crime scene checked out and cleaned up as quickly as possible. As it is, Mrs. Fowler is likely to have a cow when she sees it."

"Considering all the rain we've had tonight," said Parsons. "There won't be much left to check out. The press does check police reports for stories. But it wasn't a family member who did the shooting so maybe we can keep the 'family feud' aspect out of it."

"We can try, but that's the most interesting part of it. From their point of view anyway," said Davis grimly. "Let's get that first security guard in and save the shooter for last."

When Rick Jones entered, he told the security guard to sit down.

"What is your full name?" he asked with a sigh.

"Richard R. Jones," he replied.

"Okay," he said regaining his official tone of voice. "Now how are you mixed up in this?"

"Well," said Jones. "Like Larry said out in the field. My partner and I were hired by a Mr. Bob Everett, who lives in Santa Barbara, to guard his brother's house. He said that there could be trouble with a couple of men with English accents who wanted to get at his wife and sister-in-law."

"How long had you been out there?" he asked.

"Since Saturday," he replied. "That's when Mr. Everett hired us."

"Okay," he said. "So what happened last night?"

"Well, we heard these two guys, in the middle of this huge storm talking outside the house. And they were talking in British accents. Since only a crazy person or someone with an awfully large grudge would be out in weather like that, we figured that these were the guys that we were looking out for."

"Did you hear what they said?"

"Naw," he answered. "The was too much noise from the storm."

"Did Mr. Everett give the names of the guys you were looking out for?" asked Davis.

"No, just the description," said Jones.

"Go on."

"So we decided to just keep an eye on them unless they tried to get into the house," added Jones. "We could see that they were casing it, but we didn't want to confront them until they actually tried to get in. In all honesty, I was hoping that they would give up and go away. I didn't want to have to deal with any awkward situations in the rain and wind like that."

"So what happened?" asked Davis.

"We saw the other three come in and heard that British guy calling out," he said. "One of the British guys came from behind a big tree limb. Then we saw the two men face to face and then the one young man comes out and starts talking too."

"Which young man?"

"The guy with the pony tail," said Jones.

"Could you hear what they were saying?" asked Davis.

"I could hear scraps of conversation. They were kind of yelling," replied Rick. "The deceased never said a word. But the other two looked like they were trying to persuade him to give up, come to back Jesus or something like that. Then he raised the gun and pointed it directly at them."

"What happened next?"

"I could see that he was planning to shoot," continued Rick. "Larry had that better view, so he got up and aimed his gun at his arm. But the shot was off and hit him in the chest. We don't shoot to kill, only to wound."

"And then?" asked Davis.

"Then the cops came in the yard and started questioning the kids and the two British guys," he said. "Larry came out when they asked who the shooter was. Then the police took us all down here."

"Okay," said Davis. "Officers, if you don't have any questions for Mr. Jones, then we'll bring in Mr. Kimble."

Neither Hadley nor Parsons had anything to ask.

When Kimble came in, he once again refused to have a lawyer present. He told the same story as Jones.

"When I aimed to shoot," he said. "I only wanted to hit his arm to knock the gun out. But between the wind, the rain and the poor light, I couldn't keep my arm steady. I didn't want to kill him. I only wanted to keep him from killing the others."

"What made you think that he wanted to kill them?"

"He was aiming at point blank range," replied Kimble. "I couldn't think of anything else that he'd want to do. It seemed ridiculous at the time. The kid Topher was trying to convince him to give it up to God or something like that."

"Then what happened?"

"The officers came in, looked at the scene, and asked who the shooter was," he said. "I confessed and turned over my gun. Then we came down here."

"Okay," said Davis wearily. "Officers, do you have any questions?"

Hadley and Parsons both shook their heads. Kimble was dismissed and they all looked at each other.

"Well, we have another verification of the 'come back to Jesus' speech," commented Davis. "I guess he really said it."

"Well," said Parsons. "Topher has always been a good Christian boy. I believe that his family is good friends with Pastor Jason over at Trinity."

Davis looked at him dubiously.

"Let's run through this and see if we agree on what we just heard," said Davis. "I'm thinking that the boys were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Topher was lucky that he didn't get himself shot. This was a family dispute, clear and simple."

"If you can keep the bloodlines straight," commented Hadley. "But I agree. The boys were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Parsons nodded in agreement.

"Now the two cousins both seemed to be trying to protect Mrs. Everett and her sister from Fenshaw," he went on. "But neither was armed or seemed to have any real idea of how to stop this guy. Since they were both unarmed, I tend to believe that the Trelawney cousin did not know that this fellow had a gun."

"I have had the sense the whole time that John Trelawney is afraid of his own shadow," said Hadley. "He certainly backed down fast enough when you talked tough to him. If he knew that his cousin, Fenshaw that is, had a gun, he would have never stayed with him."

"I would agree with that," said Parsons. "I really don't think that either one of the cousins thought that anyone would get hurt. They were just trying to keep Fenshaw away from Mrs. Everett and her sister."

"Okay," said Davis. "So we all agree on that. I also believe the security guards. And I haven't been out the storm tonight, but could it have been possible that Kimble's aim was thrown off?"

"Well, we'll have to wait for the autopsy to see where the bullet hit, but he probably wasn't far off the mark. I'm guessing that the trajectory of the bullet will prove out where he was aiming versus where he hit," said Hadley. "Considering the interference of the storm, I could see how it would be hard to hit a target accurately from that distance."

"Well, we also have very good agreement on the details of the shooting," said Parsons. "I think that we have six very honest men out there."

"An important question for you men is this," he answered. "Did any of them have any time to discuss their stories to get them straight? It seems like the details we got from Topher, Mike, and Figalilly are remarkably consistent."

"Not the three in our car. And these were the three. I'm thinking that they're just being honest," said Hadley. "And Sanchez was driving the other car. He knows the drill. He wouldn't have let them talk."

Davis sighed. "Okay, let's go out and wrap this up."

The three policemen went out and the six looked up at them.

"This is the deal," said Davis. "There's no reason to hold you five since you are all witnesses. But I'm not sure of how much you were able to witness in the storm, other than what you told us, but we may need you in court to testify. We have your statements, but please don't discuss them with each other or anyone else for that matter.

"Figalilly and Trelawney, since you're foreign nationals, we're going to have to ask you to turn in your passports until we're sure that we won't need you again. Larry Kimble, we're going to have to hold you until we can get out to the crime scene and investigate. We also won't be able to arraign you until morning. There's nothing else to do now."

"It seems as though the storm has stopped," said Hadley, looking around and listening.

"It stopped a few hours ago," said Topher.

"Yes," said Parsons, as he listened more closely. "I would definitely say that it has stopped."

Parsons looked over at Hadley, who had been his partner for the night. He wasn't a bad guy to work with. Good thing too. They would probably be up until dawn writing their reports together. A couple of the other officers were assigned to return the five to where they belonged. The boys wanted to go to Topher's van and the cousins to the rental car. Jones asked to call his wife to pick him up.

After they left, Parsons and Hadley went back to the conference room to fill out their paperwork. They both got themselves a cup of coffee and sat down.

"You know," said Hadley. "Part of the story still doesn't add up. I still think that Fenshaw's response was way out of proportion to what happened. I mean, how many girls have broken off engagements with how many guys and then had their husband's kids? If all the jilted guys reacted like this, you need one hell of a lot of policemen to deal with it."

"Yeah," said Parsons. "And the bit about the kid sister doesn't make any sense either. I mean, even if she did give her sister some help, I don't see how that should be so terrible for Fenshaw. And I got the impression from the boys that they were more concerned about her than Mrs. Everett."

"Well," said Hadley. "There's obviously a lot more to this story than meets the eye. But since none of it really pertains to the crime, then I think that we should keep out of it. The Everetts are entitled to their privacy. Especially if poking around goes into areas that don't have anything to do with the case. We don't have to mention the names of the witnesses, do we?"

"I don't think so," he said. "Really what we have is a man trespassed onto the Professor's property and got shot by a security guard who was on watch. It was an accidental fatal shooting. The rest is up to the judge and jury to decide."

"Do you think that the prosecutor will call all five witnesses?" asked Hadley.

"Not if Kimble pleads something and works out a deal," he answered. "Chances are, he'll get probation. The gun was licensed and he wasn't shooting to kill. The security company will no doubt hire him a good lawyer and try to keep things quiet. It's not so good for business you know."

"I wonder if Mrs. Everett had her baby last night?" said Hadley.

"Well, knowing you as I do now," replied Parsons. "I bet you find out the minute you hit your beat. Man, I do admire your dedication to those folks out there."

"Well, after landing in the middle of a homicide investigation tonight," replied Hadley. "I will be happy to go back to ticketing illegally parked cars and issuing summonses for breach of the peace."

"Me too, man," agreed Parsons. "Me too."

He thought back to the night when he and Carolyn had discovered that the cute kid they had met at the Cub Scout fair was really an orphan. It had given them all a brand new life and a happy family. The Everetts were a special family and he hoped that everything would go well with the baby. What was it that little Prudence had said that night?

"Love makes a family."

Whoever Cousin Emmeline was, she sure had it right.

_To be continued . . ._


	3. Chapter 3

**What Happened?**

When the police dropped Mike and Topher off at his van, the two guys got in and for several minutes just sat and stared ahead. Finally, Topher looked at Mike and said,

"What the hell just happened?"

Mike shook his head.

"I don't know. Did you say anything to the police about the unicorn?"

"No," replied Topher. "Did you say anything about the Princess?"

"No," he replied. "None of the questions they asked could be directly answered by talking about the unicorn or the Princess. So I didn't say anything."

They heard a knock on the van door. Topher looked out the window and saw Liam and Johnny. Mike opened the door.

"So, lads," said Liam. "Wasn't that just a wild ride? Can we come in?"

"Why not?" asked Topher. "Maybe you can explain a few things to us."

"I can try," answered Liam. "But there are some things that you'll never understand."

"Neither of you mentioned anything about the unicorn or Auntie?" asked Johnny nervously.

"Didn't get the chance," said Mike. "They were more worried about what happened in the yard than why we were there. I just said that we were there to protect Trelawney and Mrs. Everett."

"Me too," agreed Topher.

"Well that's good," said Liam. "The last thing that we needed was for them to start digging around into Trelawney Rose's personal business. If they came around and started asking her questions about the unicorn, it wouldn't have told them a bloody thing that they needed to know and they just would have upset the poor child all over again. And I am not sure that they would have known what to say if we dragged Auntie into it."

"I'm not sure that I know what to say about Auntie," replied Mike. "That was quite a performance that she put on for us."

"And how," added Topher. "By the way, can you tell us now what you meant when you said that she had made one prediction too many?"

Liam and Johnny looked at each other.

"You might as well tell him," said Johnny.

"Well, it's like this," he said. "Now you can't go and tell anyone about this. It has directly to do with Phoebe, Trelawney Rose, and Francine. They've all been through enough and we don't need nobody coming around to bother them about it."

"We promise," said Mike. Topher nodded.

"Okay," said Liam. "When Auntie was shooting off her mouth about the two sisters and the innocent third party harmed by the cousin, she finished off the word 'unless'. Right?"

"Yeah," said Mike. "And I asked her unless what."

"Yeah, you did," replied Liam. "But the 'unless' told me that this was an aspect of the premonition that could be changed. In other words, nobody needed to get hurt."

"But somebody did get hurt," said Topher.

"That's true, but the person who got hurt was never either directly mentioned or even alluded to in the premonition," explained Liam.

"Huh?" asked both boys together.

"This is it," said Liam. "The storm was the lights falling from the sky and the danger for all who waited. Auntie's going to have a field day with that because she got it all right. But me and Johnny here are going to have to have a long talk with her about the other. The sisters were Phoebe and Trelawney Rose. The innocent bystander was Francine. The cousin was old Johnny here, because he literally brought old Cholmondeley here."

"Yeah," said Johnny. "That's the last time that I listen to my Mum. If I have to pick between being a Trelawney or a Featherstonehaugh, then I'm a Trelawney. If any harm had come to Trelawney Rose and it was my fault, Grandfather would have skinned my alive."

"So then," asked Mike. "Do _you_ believe that that guy was really the unicorn?"

"Yes, I do," replied Johnny. "I seen it for myself now. He was desperate to get into that house. And it wasn't to make a fuss over the baby. He was determined to 'take care of things' with the girls. We didn't find the Fowlers at home, and that him really mad. He was just dying to get at Francine to shut her up. The only other place they could have been was Phoebe's. As soon as I saw the gun I knew it was for Francine and Trelawney Rose. The man was crazy. If he'd gone in there shooting, who knows who would have been hurt?"

"When it came time for me to make my own choice," said Liam. "I could have run away or stood my ground. I decided to stand my ground. Or I could have tried to kill him with my bare hands or grab the gun."

"You offered him forgiveness and God's mercy," said Topher.

"Yes. But first I had to get it for myself. I've been carrying around a lot of hate and anger with me for the past year. But when the time came to let it go by finally having my revenge on Cholmondeley," he said. "I couldn't do it. My sister Sylvia was right. Two wrongs don't make a right. Two acts of evil don't make for justice or peace. They only make for more evil. And the little one has always known that. She ran Cholmondeley off when he tried to marry Phoebe, but she never hurt him."

"My sister Sarah has always said that Trelawney is too good," said Topher. "And then she doesn't understand it when other people aren't, good that it."

"She never told anyone in the family what he did to her. She never looked for revenge. She wanted protection, but never revenge. Never let the likes of me know because she knew that I would have taken the revenge for her. For the past year, she thought that I was protecting her, which I was. But if the opportunity had arisen for me to take care of the bloody bastard once and for all, I would have taken it," he explained.

"But you didn't." said Mike.

"No. She's suffered a lot, but she won't have to suffer because I damned my soul in her name," he added. "In the end, it was Cholmondeley himself that made his choice. If he had come towards the light, as Topher told him, he would not have been shot. But he was getting ready to shoot us. And he would have. It was the security guard that saved us."

"So then," said Mike. "The truth about what he did will not come out."

"There's no reason for it to," said Johnny. "You two are the only ones outside the family who know about, except Francine. She'll never talk. As long as you can keep your mouths shut, then we can help Trelawney move on with her life. Now she is safe."

"But what about the Princess?" asked Topher.

"You leave her to us," said Liam grimly. "She'll say nothing more about Phoebe and Trelawney Rose. And she never cared nothing for the unicorn any way. She actually did have the power to protect Trelawney Rose, but she chose not to. She was playing a very dangerous game. If I tell Grandfather what her silly fortune telling almost did, then she'll be dead to him. No, she'll be saying nothing more about that."

"What's going to happen now?" asked Mike.

"Well, we're all going to stick by our story about the broken engagement being the cause of it all with the police," said Liam. "The police told us all not to talk to anyone else or each other. Well, too bad, we talked to each other. But we're all on the record as saying the same thing. If anyone comes nosing around looking for information, just keep your mouths shut, like the cops said. Officer Parsons told me as we were leaving that they were going to try to keep the family stuff out of the press."

"What about our parents?" Mike fearfully asked.

"That's a hard one," said Liam. "They know that you ended up at the police station. You're both better off coming clean. But don't tell them too much. There's more than likely to be some story in the paper about the killing. Hopefully the storm is bad enough that most folks won't care about it. They'll be more interested in reading about their own troubles than some foreigner with a funny name who bought it for trespassing. It's better not to lie about what you saw."

"Why is that?" asked Topher.

"What you saw tonight was a dreadful thing," answered Liam. "There's nothing worse than watching a man die before your eyes. It wasn't your fault or nothing, but you were there."

"We've got a harder task," said Johnny. "We've got to find a way to explain it to the little one. She'll be glad that the unicorn is gone, but you know that she never wanted revenge. Phoebe will be even harder, but hopefully we can wait until she's recovered from the birth."

"She'll be alright," Liam assured him. "The Professor will be strong for her. She'll be more worried about Trelawney Rose. And she should be. The death of her parents was a great trauma. The details of this will be hard for her to take."

"Well," said Topher. "I'm going to be around too. Just because the unicorn is gone, it doesn't mean that Trelawney won't still need a gallant knight."

"Trelawney Rose will always need a gallant knight," replied Liam. "Especially out here. It's more the pity that she can't go back to live in the village. But that's the way it is, she's got to be with her Phoebe."

"Well," said Johnny. "We got to get to our hotel. And you boys have to get home. I hope that you're not in too much trouble with your parents."

"Yes," said Liam. "You were brave lads tonight. And you were honorable. I'm sure that we'll see you again before we leave."

But Topher was only too happy to see them get out of the van and go to their own car. He would be just as glad if he never had to see either of them again.

By the time Mike and Topher were finally alone again in the van, they were both exhausted.

"Did that really happen?" asked Mike. "Or did we just fall down a rabbit hole into some alternative universe."

As always, Topher gave him a smile.

"By the time your mother gets ahold of you," he answered. "You're going to be wishing that you fell down a rabbit hole. It would be more believable. I bet she's waiting up for you."

"Yours too, I bet," he answered. "I'm still not sure of what to tell mine."

"Tell her what you told the police," Topher suggested. "That's what I'm going to do. The folks don't need to know anything more than that."

Topher started up the van and drove Mike home. By the time he got there it was nearly dawn. He groaned. Whose car was out in front, but his Dad's?

"Oh, boy!" he said. "Now we're really in for it. It looks like we're going to get it in stereo."

But Mike just shrugged. Topher looked at him closely, but he realized that he was too tired to care. But he had another thing going in his favor. He was leaving for New York City in a week. He wondered if he could hitch a ride with him. He stopped the van and got ready to leave.

"Time to face the music."

**Epilogue**

Liam and Johnny left the station together in a police car that drove them back to Johnny's rental car on Oak Street. Liam didn't want to alarm the elder Everetts by showing up at three in the morning. Another car had driven Topher and Mike back to Topher's van. The police collected their passports and then went to the hotel to collect Cholmondeley's effects to give to his family.

Before they went to the hotel, they decided to have a little chat with the lads. When they walked over to the van, they discovered that they were both still in a state of shock. They were easy enough to talk to. They just wanted to forget that the whole thing had ever happened.

"Good thing the lads kept their mouths shut," said Liam when they were finally alone. "They both must have figured out pretty quickly that we weren't going to get into some of the more questionable aspects of the story, including good old Auntie."

"Well if we had," replied Johnny. "We'd still be there. There's no way that any of those officers was going to understand what really happened out there."

"Well," said Liam. "The boys barely understand it themselves. All we have to do now is stick by our story. No mention of unicorns and the like, you know?"

"What about Aunt Henrietta?" asked Johnny.

"Oh, she'll not say a word," Liam assured him. "As soon as she hears what happened, she'll be busy trying to figure out how to make a buck off of it for herself. She's never mentioned anything about any unicorns as far as I know. What are you going to tell your Mum?"

"The truth," he said. "Cholmondeley threatened you and Topher with your lives and another man shot him. It's no one's fault but his own."

"True enough," agreed Liam. "Now what about that passport for him that the police found on him?"

"It won't tell them nothing," said Johnny. "We hid the others when we got here. The way that things happened, the coppers probably won't try to dig deep enough into his background to hit the blind spot. But you didn't give them your real one, I presume. It's a good reminder to always carry a spare."

"What about when they try to notify your family?" he asked.

"Well, they'll only talk to his Dad, the usual way," he replied. "It'll be up to the Featherstonehaughs to figure it out from there. It's a bit of an unusual situation, but they'll get the body back for proper burial. It won't be a happy time for them."

"Well, now," said Liam. "At least the little one is safe, and Phoebe and the baby."

"But Grandfather still won't get Trelawney back," said Johnny. "He won't like that."

"He'll have to live with it," retorted Liam. "I doubt that Auntie's got any more tricks up her sleeve where that's concerned. She needs to keep her nose clean and stay out of their business. When we go in for another chat with her, we'll let her know that Grandfather will know her part in this whole mess if she starts up again.

"You would never have gone out to bring Cholmondeley here if she hadn't been going on the way she did. Grandfather may want the little one at home, but he wants her safe more than anything. We'll never know for sure, but if Cholmondeley had a gun, he was planning to use it."

"It would have been nice to get her pulled in with us to see the police," replied Johnny.

"But it's better this way. Who knows what she might have said?"

"Oh, I don't know," answered Liam. "I can't imagine what the police would have thought if she had started babbling about Rosalie and such."

"True enough," said Johnny.

"Well," said Liam. "Let's get some sleep. Tomorrow I've got to go back and face the 'day of judgment' with Emmeline and Sylvia. Hopefully the little one will have a word with them before they try to lay me out in lavender."

"The little one was a help then, was she?"

"Yeah," he said. "She was out there with me, helping me along. I was wanting to kill the bastard, but I knew it would break her heart. She got me past it and now I'm grateful. I suppose that I'll have to mend my ways now. It was kind of like the old saying that there being no atheists in the foxholes. Facing that gun, I realized that I could either make peace with my Maker, or see Him face to face. I wasn't ready for that. But it's time to take up my family responsibilities now. You know settle in the village like Dad wants and get married."

"Liam, you know those Chenoweth sisters are very pretty girls," replied Johnny. "I wouldn't mind marrying one of them myself. More family ties and all that, you know."

Liam grinned. "Well wouldn't that be a fun one for the police to figure out. Yes, officer sir, I would say, and he's also my brother-in-law. How did that copper's face look when he was trying to figure out who was related to who?"

"Totally confused. Part of the fun of being in the outside world," he replied. "You know? They'll never figure us out. They're too bloody smart for their own good. They've gotten so far away from the essence of the universe with their science and numbers and such that they'll never understand nothing again."

"Yes, that's true," said Liam. "These fools out here have educated themselves with so much information that they can't make hide nor hair out of nothing anymore."

Liam lay down to rest. The sun was starting to rise and it looked like it would be a grand day. He would make his fuss over the baby and then call up Dad. He'd let him know that when he finally made it home he would be happy to settle down with one of the girls. And who knew? By this time next year he might have a little nipper of his own to dandle on his knee.

**The End**


End file.
